In House
by Apesshipper
Summary: When one of their own is injured, the night shift fights to take care of the problem.
1. Hospital

In House

            Sara Sidle ran into the hospital waiting room, still dressed in the shorts and tank top she'd changed into after work, her hair a brown tangled mass in a ponytail.  Nick Stokes was already there as were Warrick Brown and Gil Grissom.  "Cath?"  She said breathlessly.

            "She won't let anyone near her."  Nick told her.

            "The dumb asses gave her a male doctor.  A MALE DOCTOR.  And now they want to know why she won't let them collect a kit."  Warrick said angrily.

            She looked at Grissom, who looked silent, almost like he didn't understand what was happening.  "Okay, doesn't she have a sister or someone?  Lindsey's not with Ed, is she?"

            Grissom finally spoke.  "Lindsey's with Sam.  He'll take care of her until Catherine can."  Sam Braum wasn't exactly family, but he was the closest thing to it in Vegas.

            "I'll call her sister."  Nick volunteered.

            "I'll see if I can get her to let me run a kit."  It wasn't like Catherine to refuse to give evidence, but from what little Nick had told her, Sara wasn't surprised.  She cast a look at Warrick and he nodded that he would take care of Grissom.  He didn't seem to be in shock, just out of it, not that Sara was surprised about that either.  None of the others were sure what connection Catherine had to Grissom, but they seemed to be best friends, or as close as Grissom got to having a best friend.

            Sara moved into the hospital room and saw Catherine Willows sitting on the examination table, scratched and bruised.  "Cath."  She tried to keep her voice steady, but it hurt seeing her friend hurt.  After all the time Sara had lived in Vegas, it had just dawned on her that night that Catherine was her friend.

            "Sara."  Catherine breathed.  "Grissom?"

            "He's outside with Warrick.  Nick's calling your sister and Lindsey's with Sam.  Everyone's all right…everyone but you."

            "Is he mad?"

            "Grissom?"  Sara frowned.  "No, he's not mad.  Why would he be mad?'

            "The kit."

            "No, he's not mad about that."  Sara paused.  "But you know the odds of us catching the guy that hurt you.  We might be able to do it without the kit, but someone else would get hurt.  I know you and I know you don't want that."

            Catherine shook her head.  "No.  I don't want that."

            "Do you want me to get you a female nurse or doctor?"

            Catherine shook her head again.  "You can do it."

            Sara nodded slightly and began to do the steps of the procedure, repeating them out loud for both her and Catherine's benefit.  Somewhere along the way, Catherine began repeating them as well.  "There we go."  Sara said, putting the last piece of evidence away.  "I'm gonna get this to the lab."

            "Sara…the boys can come in if they want."  Sara knew that, at the moment, it was a huge sacrifice for Catherine and she nodded.

            "I'll tell them that."  She tried to give Catherine a reassuring smiled before she left the room.  "She says you can go in now."  She told the three male CSIs.  Nick and Warrick went inside the room, but Grissom stood where he was.  "You can go in now."

            Grissom shook his head.  "I…I think I'll ride with you back to the lab."

            She wanted to argue, but knew better and took a different approach.  "You don't think I can handle it?"

            "I didn't say that."

            "Then why don't you stay with Catherine?  She could use some comforting right now.  She's scared."  He was too; it was obvious to her.

            He shook his head.  "I…I don't think that's a very good idea.  I'll just go back to the lab with you."  Not knowing what other tactics to use, Sara simply nodded and they silently walked back to her SUV.

            "Cath?"  Nick spoke first.

            "Hey, Nicky."  Catherine said quietly.

            "Lindsey's with Sam.  We're gonna help him take care of her.  And your sister said to call her if you need her to come down and stay with you for awhile."

            She shook her head.  "I'll be fine.  I have to stay here for a few more hours, but then I can go home.  I don't think I'm going to make it to the lab for shift though."

            Nick nodded.  "We've got it under control.  Don't worry, okay?"

            She nodded slightly.  "Hey, Warrick."

            "Hey, Cath."  She hugged him slightly and he was careful of her bruised ribs and other injuries.  "Grissom went to make sure Sara took care of the evidence. He should be back though."

            Catherine nodded, although she doubted it.  This was one of the times that Grissom had trouble showing his people what he felt, so he ran to the comfort and safety of his lab, like a child to her security blanket.  "Yeah, I'm sure he will be."


	2. Lab

            Sara walked into the cubbyhole that Greg Sanders called his own.  "Good.  You're here."

            Greg nodded.  "Yeah.  Some of the day shift were talking.  Is it true?  About Catherine?"  For once, he was serious with a concerned look on his face.

            Sara nodded.  "Yeah."  She handed him the kit.  "Evidence."

            "Goes through first."  He said, clearing off the rest of the cases and turning immediately to what Sara had given him.  "How is she?"

            "Pretty good, under the circumstances.  Bruised ribs, cuts, more external bruising, but she's awake and they said she should go home in a few hours."

            "Sara…anything I can do?"

            "You're doing it, Greg.  Nick and Warrick are going to take care of her at home, all we can do is catch this bastard."

            He stopped and looked at her, puzzled and a little shocked.  "Boss isn't taking care of her?"  Like everyone else, he wondered just how close Grissom was to Catherine, but knew they were good friends, both at and outside of work.

            Sara shook her head.  "He's in his office, _helping_."  He hadn't been much of a help, but as long as he was in his office, he wasn't hunting down Catherine's rapist with a gun which is what Sara was worried about with Warrick.  He was close to Catherine too and he did tend to have a temper at times, as did Grissom and, to some extent, though not as much as the others, Nick.

*****  
            Grissom sat at his desk, holding a personnel file in his hands, Catherine's file.  He smiled as he saw the picture.  They took new ones every year, but regardless of hair and clothing styles, they always had that beautiful, sassy, light up a room Catherine smile that was hers and hers alone.  In her Warrick had one of his biggest supporters, Sara an ally, Nick another big sister, the victims a confidant and listener, Lindsey the mother she adored, and he had the closest thing to a best friend he'd had in years.  Catherine was a survivor; she made it through things that would make others curl up and die over.  Although he would never admit it, to some extent, she was his heroine.  He admired her strength, her stubbornness, her fearlessness, her ease, almost everything that was just part of her personality.

            "We're day shift.  It's our case."  He was rudely interrupted by Conrad Ecklie, the day shift supervisor.

            "My CSI collected the evidence, my CSI was injured, it's our case.  I would, however, accept a person from your shift to assist us."  He was making a concession; he wanted this taken care of in the family.

            "I'm taking the case.  You're borderline with the sheriff anyway.  One call…"

            "There's no way you're getting anywhere near this case; you screw up your own too bad as it is.  It's our case.  We're handling it.  You gotta problem with that, make the call.  Here's a phone." He indicated the phone on his desk.

            "I'll be waiting for you to screw up."  Ecklie said before walking away.

            "I'm sure you will."  Grissom mouthed as he turned his attention back to Catherine's file and his memories.


	3. Evening

            Nick gently helped Catherine into his house.  "You can stay wherever you want."

            "Thanks for this, Nick.  I'm not ready to go home."

            "It's okay.  Believe me, I understand."

            She nodded.  "I think I'll stay on the couch, if you don't mind."  She didn't really want to make too much of a big deal; it was his house after all.

            He nodded.  "Okay. I'll go get you some soup and a blanket."

            "If you show me where one of them is, I can do that."

            He shook his head.  "You're not supposed to move around too much.  It's no trouble."  He remembered Sara doing the same thing for him when he was hurt.

            Catherine sat on the couch and thought about her friends.  Sara was helping, in her own way, by running the evidence, Warrick took Lindsey out to eat and to a movie so that she wouldn't be so upset, and Nick was bringing her soup and blankets, just like her mom had when she was sick as a child.  She knew exactly what Grissom was doing: sitting in his office, thinking.  She didn't expect more from him, but it still hurt.  This was one of the times that she needed to talk to her family and, rather he would admit it or not, he was her family.

            She walked to the kitchen and stood there for a moment before she asked, "Nick…why are you and Warrick taking this better than Grissom?"

            He looked at her and saw the hurt expression on her face.  "I've dealt with this before."

            She nodded. "I know.  We never really talked about that.  I know that Sara took care of you."

            He nodded.  "She's good at taking care of people."

            "Did you ever get to a point when being in your own house didn't frighten you?"

            "Eventually."  He studied her.  "Cath…it will get better.  I promise.  It will get better."

            She nodded, not knowing what to say.  "About Grissom…"

            "You know how he is.  He can't show any weakness in front of us.  It's easier for him to be a scientist than a person."          Catherine flinched at his terminology. "Not that he's not a person, it's just…"

            "I know."  It still hurt though.

            "He was the same way when I was hurt.  It's just…Grissom."

            She tried to smile.  "You sure I can't help with something?"

            "I'm sure.  Hey, if you want to call Warrick's cell phone, he should have picked up Lindsey by now and you can at least talk to her."  They had all agreed that it was better for Catherine's health if Lindsey stayed with Sam again, until Catherine's ribs healed a little more, but it was hard for Catherine to be home and not be with her daughter.

*****  
            "Grissom."  The word sounded like it was floating in water and he turned towards the door to see Sara standing there.  He studied her lips.  "Are you okay?"  She asked, a concerned look on her face.

            "Yeah, I'm fine.  Anything?"

            "Not yet.  Greg's still working on it.  One of the day shift volunteered to do the scene."  She sat in one of his visitors' chairs. "What are you doing?"

            "Going through cases."  He'd started hours ago and had come up with a huge stack of cases Catherine had done over the years.

            "Do you want some help?"  He thought about saying no, but nodded.  "What are these stacks for?"  She indicated the stacks of files.

            "These I haven't gone through, these are dead, these are still in jail, and these are prospects."  She nodded and took a folder from the ones he hadn't gone through.  
            One of the 'gophers' knocked on the door a few hours later.  "Ms. Sidle, Mr. MacCallister wants to talk to you in the break room."

            She nodded and looked at Grissom.  "I'll be right back, 'kay?"  He nodded in a silent reply as she left the room.

            "What did you find out?"

            "Her bedroom had a camera.  Whoever raped her didn't leave any evidence, at least not at the scene."

            She nodded.  "He's a smart bastard.  Is there anyway we can trace the surveillance equipment?"

            "Our audio-visual quit a week ago.  Where's Warrick?"

            "With Catherine's daughter."  She looked at her watch.  "He might be back by now.  I'll give them a call; I need to check on Catherine anyway."  He nodded, smiling at one of the two prettiest CSIs in the lab, and took the equipment to the audio-visual room as she pulled out her cell phone and went down to the locker room to have some privacy.

            Nick answered the phone on the second ring, before it woke Catherine.  "Nick Stokes."

            "Nick, it's Sara.  Warrick back yet?"

            "Yeah.  Need him?"

            "Yeah.  The only evidence at the scene was video surveillance equipment."

            "Okay, I'll tell him."

            "Hey, how's Catherine?"

            "Asleep.  What about Grissom?"  He asked, comparing notes.

            "No change.  We're going through cases Catherine worked."

            "There has to be over a couple of hundred there."

            "It makes him feel useful."

            "Speaking of…"

            She smiled, knowing his question.  "Don't worry.  One of the day shift's helping, MacCallister.  You're useful taking care of Catherine.  Let me know if you need anything."

            "Let me know if you do."  She hung up and went back to Grissom's office to help him again.


	4. Nightmares

            She walked into her apartment, putting her purse on the kitchen counter by the door and hanging her coat up in the small closet.  She knew that the babysitter had already taken Lindsey to school so she debated rather to grab a quick breakfast or just go to sleep.  She decided to go to sleep, it was bad to sleep after just eating anyway, yet she ended up doing that constantly with her shift.  She thought about Grissom and what might be wrong with him.  He acted strange lately, like he was out of it even more than usual, like he couldn't hear her.  She'd start talking to him and he'd ask her to repeat it or he'd stare at her intently. She knew that it was probably one of his newest oddities, but somehow she couldn't just dismiss it.  Maybe Sara knew; she'd ask tonight.  She heard the door close behind her and she knew that she hadn't done it.  She spun around and saw a man standing there, staring at her.

            "What are you doing in my apartment?"  She tried to keep her voice strong and authoritative.

            "You don't remember me, do you, Catherine?"

            "No."  She said firmly.

            "You sent me up the river for rape and you don't even remember it.  My wife divorced me, I lost my kids…you destroyed my life and you don't even remember me."  Catherine thought quickly and reached for the phone, managing to knock it off the hook, but not calling anyone.

            "We don't want anyone else here."  He pushed the phone away from her and got on top of her.  She remembered feeling trapped and helpless as she fought against him.  "I went down for a rape I didn't do, might as well get a freebie, huh?"  His voice made her even more panicky and she wished that she hadn't pushed away Grissom's offer of breakfast.  She would have been there and maybe whoever this was would have gotten tired of waiting.  She was scared and vulnerable and she hated those feelings more than anything.  The pain became unbearable, but she never cried.

*****  
            Grissom was still alone in his office when he could swear that he heard a woman crying.  He looked in the break room and then in the locker room for Sara, but she wasn't there.  The crying hadn't stopped though and suddenly he realized what it was, grabbed his keys, and headed to his Tahoe.

*****  
            "Catherine."  Nick tried to wake Catherine up from her nightmare; she was crying so hard that he was worried if she could breathe enough or not.  He felt someone's hand on his shoulder and jumped a little.  "Grissom."  He moved aside and let his boss sit near the couch.

            "Grissom?"  Catherine asked through tears.

            "I'm here, Cath.  It's okay.  Everything's okay."  Everything wasn't okay, but he couldn't stop saying it.  Neither of them noticed when Nick slipped from the room, giving them more privacy.

            "It was so awful."

            "I know."  He moved to where he could put an arm around her shoulders for comfort.  "I know.  We're going to catch him though.  I promise."  She suddenly reminded him of a cross between a woman and a child; he'd never thought about her like that before.  Sara, Warrick, and Nick were 'their kids', but never Catherine.

            "He said that he was a suspect in an old rape case of mine.  I couldn't even remember him."

            He thought about the stack of folders on his desk.  "Well, you've done a lot of cases."  He made a mental note to concentrate on her old rape cases and forget about the burglaries and other similar cases before he turned his attention back to Catherine.  "Why don't you lie back down and get some more sleep?"  She shook her head and clung to him.  "Okay.  It's okay.  You don't have to.  It's okay.  Why don't I just take this blanket and cover us up?  We can sleep like this.  It's okay."  It sounded stupid to his ears, saying it's okay constantly, but it was all he could think of to say.

            "Are you going back to the lab?"  She finally asked, searching his face.

            "No.  I'm going to stay here with you.  I won't leave you again…not unless you want me to."  She shook her head and laid it down on his shoulder as she sat next to him for protection and warmth.


	5. Conversations

            Sara looked up from the files to see Nick standing in the doorway of Grissom's office.  "What's wrong?  Where's Catherine?"  She asked worried.

            "Grissom's going to take care of her.  I thought I'd come in and help you and Warrick." He said, entering the room and standing near her.

            She nodded.  "Warrick and MacCallister are tracing down the equipment.  Grissom was going through these files before he disappeared, so…"

            Nick sat down and picked up a file.  "How is Warrick doing?  How are you doing?"

            "Warrick's not talking, he's just doing, so I don't really know much.  You know him, he rarely tells anyone how he feels."  Nick nodded.  Warrick was much more at ease doing things than talking about his emotions; his friends just learned to read them for themselves.

            "And you?"

            "We've got to catch this bastard, Nick.  If we don't, Catherine will never feel safe again."

            "Sara…" He paused, unsure how she would respond to him asking such a question.  "What happened to you?"

            She looked at him, trying to decide rather to play the innocent or to finally tell someone the truth.  She decided on a median. "I'll tell you after we catch this guy, okay?"

            "Okay."  He turned his attention back to the file folders in front of him, looking up every now and then to glance over at her, then resuming their search.

*****  
            "Grissom…if I want to talk about it, would you be okay listening?"  Catherine asked, grateful that he was there, but unsure if he could take hearing about it.

            He looked at her.  "Don't you want to get some more sleep?"  She had fallen asleep for only three hours and still looked exhausted and fragile.

            She shook her head. "I can't sleep.  I have to talk to someone.  I can call the lab, talk to Sara, if you want."

            He shook his head.  He didn't want to hear it, but if she wanted to talk, if it would somehow make her feel better, then he was all ears.  Anything that might make her feel better.  "I'll listen."

            One of his hands was on the couch cushion between them and she put one of hers next to it.  "I came into the house.  I put my purse down; I left my gun, like always."  He nodded, knowing that she was afraid Lindsey would somehow find her gun and get hurt.  "I should have taken it home with me."

            He shook his head.  "You were right.  It's too dangerous for Lindsey."  He wasn't sure he believed that, but he didn't want her to blame himself.  "I wasn't sure if I wanted to grab some toast or something or just go to sleep, but I went ahead and walked towards the bedroom.  The bedroom door closed, but I didn't close it.  I turned around and the man was standing there."  Her voice was even, calm, almost like the event itself had become detached from her and she was recounting what had happened to someone else.  She left out the part about worrying about Grissom; it didn't seem like something she should say.  He looked pained and she wondered if she should stop.  She had almost decided to leave the rest alone when he moved his hand on top of hers and she continued.  "He said that he was one of my old rape cases, that he didn't do it, and that he lost his family…that I destroyed his life.  I…I couldn't remember him.  I still don't.  I reached for the phone on the nightstand, I knocked it to the floor, but I couldn't call."

            He nodded.  "That's when we called the police; your phone was disconnected."  He had called her to check on her, make sure she'd gotten home all right.  Warrick and Nick had been with him, but Sara and Catherine had both gone home to sleep.

            She nodded then continued.  "He…he got on top of me and he said that since he'd already been punished for a rape he didn't do, he might as well get a freebie."  

Grissom turned even paler and she stopped.  He didn't need to know the rest.  "Anything else?"  He said stiffly.  He didn't want to know, but he wanted her to get it out in some way.

"Are you sure?"

"If you need to talk…I'm here."

She nodded, biting her lower lip, a trait only he had ever seen her do.  "It hurt. It hurt so much.  He made me feel worse than even Ed used to.  He…" She didn't realize she was crying until he reached over and wiped a tear away.

"It's okay, Catherine.  Sara, Nick, and Warrick will catch him and we'll all make sure that he never hurts you again…or anyone else.  It's okay."  He clung to her as she clung to him, both afraid to let go.


	6. Friends

            Nick studied Sara.  She was asleep in the break room, her head in the midst of file folders.  He didn't want to wake her, but knew that she would be better off at her apartment, in bed, even if it was just for a little while.

            "Sara."

            She woke up, startled.  "Nick?"

            "Hey, why don't you head home?  Warrick and I have things handled and I'll call if we know anything else."

            Too tired to argue, she nodded.  "Okay."

            He smiled.  "Let me walk you out."

            She rolled her eyes at him.  "I'm old enough to walk myself out."  She grumbled at him.  Despite his better judgment, he relented and let her go.

            Nick walked to the audio-visual room where he could tell Warrick was angry.  "What's wrong?"  He already knew, but he wasn't prepared for Warrick's answer.

            Warrick held up a tape. "Bastard."

            "From Catherine's apartment?"

            Warrick nodded.  "I was watching it to see if there was something we missed.  There's gotta be something we can use to catch him for what he did."  Nick nodded.  "Sara go home?"

            "Yeah.  She was asleep so I just sent her to get more rest."

            "What about Cath and Grissom?"

            "Nothing.  Maybe they're both getting some sleep."  He had already told Warrick about Catherine's nightmare.

            "I hope so.  MacCallister's running down the credit cards that were used to buy the equipment."

            "Credit cards?"

            "Yeah, none of the shops took checks so if he paid with cash, we might never find him."

            "Until he hurts someone else."  It was a fact that most rapists had more than one victim.

            Warrick turned to look at his friend.  "What?"

            Nick shook his head.  "I'm just feeling a little guilty, I guess.  Sara just left and she wouldn't let me walk her out."

            "God help anyone who tries to grab Sara."  Warrick tried to joke.

            "I guess.  It's just…she thinks she's so damned invincible sometimes.  I should have walked her out."

            "Why don't you go see if she left all right?  I'm about to call ADA Benson; fill her in."  Nick nodded and headed out.

            Sara felt more than a little creepy as she walked out to the parking lot alone.  She probably should have let Nick walk her out, but there was nothing she could do about it now.  She wasn't about to go back in and tell them that she was frightened; that would go over well with Warrick. She climbed into her Tahoe and locked the doors before she felt someone pull her into the backseat.

            Nick wasn't too worried when he saw her Tahoe still there.  It wouldn't have been the first time that she told someone she was going home and then fell asleep in the back of the SUV.  Still, something just didn't feel right with him.  Warrick came outside.

            "Grace wants to meet for breakfast."  It was a longstanding invitation between the attorney and the CSI for breakfast, but it very seldom actually happened.  "You want anything while I'm…" It dawned on him that there were three Tahoes there.  "She's still here."

            Nick nodded.  "Don't go too far."

            Warrick nodded and then they heard a yelp and a scream come from inside Sara's Tahoe.  Glass broke and Warrick used the hole to get off a shot while Nick used the spare key to get inside the SUV.

            "Sar?"  He pulled her out and looked her over.  "You okay?"

            She nodded while Warrick got in and checked the guy's pulse.  "He's alive."  He climbed back out and reached for his cell phone.  "I'm gonna call it in.  Is she okay?"

            Nick nodded, hugging Sara.  "What happened?"  He asked her.

            "I'm not sure.  He was in my Tahoe and he dragged me back there."

            "Did he hurt you?"

            She shook her head.  "I'm fine."

*****  
            Grissom was just hanging up the phone when Catherine woke up again.  "What happened?"  She asked.

            "They caught him."

            "How?"

            He paused.  "He tried to hurt Sara too."

            Catherine's eyes grew wide, frightened.  "Is she okay?"

            "She's fine.  Nick said she got checked out at the hospital and they're both on their way over."

            "It's over."  Catherine said.  "It's all over."  

Grissom sat beside her and hugged her, knowing the truth.  She and Sara would both have to testify, would take months, but he knew one thing.  "It's okay.  Everything's okay."

Nick and Sara came in a few minutes later.  "Hey."  Sara greeted their friends.

"Are you okay?"  Catherine asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine.  He's not, but I am."  She grinned.

Nick grinned too and explained.  "She kicked him so that he won't hurt anyone, not for awhile."  Catherine tried to hide a smile as Grissom hugged her again and she finally did smile, safe at last.


End file.
